Turn a repetitive task into your first project

The most boring, repetitive task in your week is quietly the best possible first project you could pick. You already know exactly what it involves, exactly how long it takes, and exactly what a finished, working version should do — which means you have a built-in way to know when you've succeeded.

I picked my own first project this way, and knowing exactly what "done" looked like made the whole thing far less intimidating. Ambitious project ideas often fail because you're guessing at what "done" even looks like. A repetitive task removes that guesswork completely, because you've already done it by hand more times than you can count.

Try this today: think of the task you dread doing most because it's repetitive and dull, not because it's hard. Write down every step you take to do it by hand. Then try to get a tool to handle just the first step of that list. That's your first project, already half planned out.